2003 Upper Austrian state election

The 2003 Upper Austrian state election was held on 28 September 2003 to elect the members of the Landtag of Upper Austria.

2003 Upper Austrian state election

28 September 2003

All 56 seats in the Landtag of Upper Austria
29 seats needed for a majority
All 9 seats in the state government
Turnout801,889 (78.7%)
2.4%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Josef Pühringer Erich Haider
Party ÖVP SPÖ
Last election 25 seats, 42.7% 16 seats, 27.0%
Seats won 25 22
Seat change 0 6
Popular vote 339,179 299,402
Percentage 43.4% 38.3%
Swing 0.7% 11.3%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Rudolf Anschober
Party Greens FPÖ
Last election 3 seats, 5.8% 12 seats, 20.6%
Seats won 5 4
Seat change 2 8
Popular vote 70,742 65,643
Percentage 9.1% 8.4%
Swing 3.3% 12.2%

Governor before election

Josef Pühringer
ÖVP

Elected Governor

Josef Pühringer
ÖVP

The governing Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) remained the largest party in the face of a strong performance from the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), which had won over 20% in the previous election, lost more than half its vote share and fell to 8%; most of this flowed to the SPÖ. The FPÖ also lost both its state councillors. The Greens became the third largest party and won their first state councillor in Upper Austria. As the ÖVP and SPÖ won four each, the Greens held balance of power in the state government.

The ÖVP under Governor Josef Pühringer signed a working agreement with the Greens. This was the first ever ÖVP–Green coalition formed on a state level.

Background

The Upper Austrian constitution mandates that cabinet positions in the state government (state councillors, German: Landesräten) be allocated between parties proportionally in accordance with the share of votes won by each; this is known as Proporz. As such, the government is a perpetual coalition of all parties that qualify for at least one state councillor. Despite this, parties still establish formal coalitions to organise cabinet positions and ensure a Landtag majority for legislative purposes.

In the 1997 state election, the ÖVP and SPÖ suffered minor losses to the FPÖ and Greens, the latter of which entered the Landtag for the first time. The ÖVP won four state councillors, the SPÖ three, and the FPÖ two.

Electoral system

The 56 seats of the Landtag of Upper Austria are elected via open list proportional representation in a two-step process. The seats are distributed between five multi-member constituencies. For parties to receive any representation in the Landtag, they must either win at least one seat in a constituency directly, or clear a 4 percent state-wide electoral threshold. Seats are distributed in constituencies according to the Hare quota, with any remaining seats allocated using the D'Hondt method at the state level, to ensure overall proportionality between a party's vote share and its share of seats.[1]

Contesting parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag.

Name Ideology Leader 1997 result
Votes (%) Seats Councillors
ÖVP Austrian People's Party
Österreichische Volkspartei
Christian democracy Josef Pühringer 42.7%
25 / 56
4 / 9
SPÖ Social Democratic Party of Austria
Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs
Social democracy Erich Haider 27.0%
16 / 56
3 / 9
FPÖ Freedom Party of Austria
Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs
Right-wing populism
Euroscepticism
? 20.6%
12 / 56
2 / 9
GRÜNE The Greens – The Green Alternative
Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative
Green politics Rudolf Anschober 5.8%
3 / 56

In addition to the parties already represented in the Landtag, one party collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot.

Results

Party Votes % +/− Seats +/− Coun. +/−
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) 339,179 43.42 +0.73 25 ±0 4 ±0
Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) 299,402 38.33 +11.30 22 +6 4 +1
The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE) 70,742 9.06 +3.28 5 +2 1 +1
Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) 65,643 8.40 –12.23 4 –8 0 –2
Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) 6,119 0.78 +0.50 0 ±0 0 ±0
Invalid/blank votes 20,804
Total 801,889 100 56 0 9 0
Registered voters/turnout 1,019,608 78.65 –2.40
Source: Upper Austrian Government
Popular vote
ÖVP
43.42%
SPÖ
38.33%
GRÜNE
9.06%
FPÖ
8.40%
KPÖ
0.78%
Landtag seats
ÖVP
44.64%
SPÖ
39.29%
GRÜNE
8.93%
FPÖ
7.14%

Results by constituency

Constituency ÖVP SPÖ Grüne FPÖ KPÖ Total
seats
Turnout
%S %S %S %S %
Linz and Surrounds32.5347.3511.617.51.0971.4
Innviertel49.2431.226.612.310.7779.1
Hausruckviertel44.0636.759.019.610.71379.6
Traunviertel42.2440.748.57.80.8879.4
Mühlviertel50.5534.438.95.60.7884.9
Remaining seats333211
Total43.42538.3229.158.440.85678.7
Source: Upper Austrian Government

References

  1. "RIS - Upper Austria Landtag election act". Upper Austrian Government.
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